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October 10, 2018

Be an Upstander, the fight against Bullying

October is National Bullying Prevention Month! If you have kids in school you might have already known that because they usually do a week long program on it. Now is a GREAT time to talk to your little one's (and big one's) about bullying both in person and online. I would love to say that my son who is currently in fourth grade has never been the victim of bullying but that is not the case. It seems to be the norm and I would love to encourage that to change!

So many of the kids, that walk through the hallways, have had been bullied or watched it happen. Now with computer labs becoming part of the school curriculum and Social Media being so popular; kids are now also being bullied online. Let us open up the conversation and be an Upstander! What is an Upstander you ask??

An Upstander fights bad behavior and stands up for kindness and positivity.

With the young generation growing up on technology we need to remember to teach safe practices. I have partnered with Google, today, to give you some great resources that I think will help you not only start a conversation but fuel your children as they experience bullying both in person and online!

First let's talk about the Be Internet Awesome campaign!! Google’s created this free multifaceted program designed to teach kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety so they can explore the online world with confidence. The program is available in English and Spanish!! Consisting of an an adventure-packed online game about digital safety! Kids will have fun learning about internet safety along with other valuable resources.

These resources include playingInterland with your kids at g.co/KindKingdomand put your kindness skills to the test!

The five areas they focus on for Internet awesomeness are:

• SMART: Where we learn to share with care

• ALERT: Where we learn not to fall for fake

• STRONG: Where we learn how to secure Our digital stuff

• KIND: Where we learn that itʼs cool to be kind

• BRAVE: Where we learn that, when in doubt, we talk it out

Online, you’ll find the teacher curriculum and family guide (coming soon!) - a complete resource on the basics your family can build on and play with or learn together.

As I stated in the beginning many students have either been bullied or seen bullying first hand!

Let's try and encourage our young to help those 71% of students who have witnessed bullying to become an Upstander rather than a bystander!

Here are a few tips:

1. Tell an adult. Often times kids never say anything which can drastically increase the chases of the bullying to continue.

2. Find a way to support the person being targeted.

3. Calling out the mean behavior when it is safe to do so!

We all want our children to have the best experiences in school. It is no surprise to any of us that they will have struggles along the way. If we open the lines of communication and address problems as they happen these negative experiences will become fewer and less common!

Learn more about how to Be Internet Awesome g.co/BeInternetAwesome. Also be sure to tell your kids’ teachers or other parents about the online curriculum so they can introduce these activities in the classroom!!

5 comments

This topic is so timely and needed. With the age of trolls and key board warriors, kids need to be equipped for both off and online bullying. I love your five areas of focus for online awareness.Especially the Brave, kind and alert. Because bullying affects everyone, this post is beneficial both for kids and grown ups.

oh my gosh this is exactly what i needed to hear today- teaching my kids these tips especially being brave and alert is key, especially at this age when my little one is small and just wants to be friends w/ everyone.

These are some awesome tips!! Just wish the schools would listen when kids talk. The new policy in my daughters school is unless it is an emergency teachers tell the kids they need to learn to communicate and deal with it themselves (this is kindergarten). The teachers and adults only help if a student is bleeding or distraught or if there is a fire or another emergency. Sad but true... Any advice what to tell a kid when they can't report seeing someone being bullied or being bulled themselves in those situations?